This application seeks partial funding for a FASEB Summer Research Conference on "Lymphocyte and Antibody Networks: Impact of Infectious Agents" to be held August 5-10, 1984, in Saxton's River, Vermont. The goal of this conference is to bring together basic immunobiologists, scientists analyzing experimental models of infectious disease, and clinical immunologists to discuss the normal functining of the immune system and the impact upon it of infectious agents. Immunology had its scientific roots in the study of resistance to infectious agents. However, the complexity of the immune system had led experimentalists to utilize synthetic or non-living antigens in order to simplify the problem of analyzing the immune response. This approach has led to an explosion of knowledge about the basic elements of the immune system, as well as of the complex cellular interactions that lead to the initiation and modulation of immunity. This information has been transferred to clinical medicine in certain areas, most dramatically in the analysis of autoimmune disorders, in which the role of HLA genotype and of lymphocyte subpopulations has been extensively analysed. However, many interesting and important questions about the interaction of the immune system and infectious agents remain to be answered. This issue has recently been thrust to the fore by the appearance of an apparent infectious disease that leads eventually to the destruction of an effective immune response and results in opportunistic infections and cancers. Numerous other diseases appear to involve the impact of infectious agents on cells of the immune system, and still others are apparently initiated by infectious agents and later mediated by an inappropriate immune response. Increasing specialization in research and in clinical medicine makes it difficult for individuals to bridge from one sub-discipline to another. Clinical immunologists and scientists involved in experimental infectious disease research attempt to relate their findings to current theories of immunology derived from highly developed animal or in vitro models.